Iturbide and the Plan of Iguala

In what was supposed to be the final government campaign against the
insurgents, in December 1820, Viceroy Juan Ruiz de Apodaca sent a force
led by a royalist criollo officer, Augustín de Iturbide, to defeat
Guerrero's army in Oaxaca. Iturbide, a native of Valladolid, had gained
renown for the zeal with which he persecuted Hidalgo's and Morelos's
rebels during the early independence struggle. A favorite of the Mexican
church hierarchy, Iturbide was the personification of conservative
criollo values, devoutly religious, and committed to the defense of
property rights and social privileges; he was also disgruntled at his
lack of promotion and wealth.

Iturbide's assignment to the Oaxaca expedition coincided with a
successful military coup in Spain against the new monarchy of Ferdinand
VII. The coup leaders, who had been assembled as an expeditionary force
to suppress the American independence movements, compelled a reluctant
Ferdinand to sign the liberal Spanish constitution of 1812. When news of
the liberal charter reached Mexico, Iturbide saw in it both a threat to
the status quo and an opportunity for the criollos to gain control of
Mexico. Ironically, independence was finally achieved when conservative
forces in the colonies chose to rise up against a temporarily liberal
regime in the mother country. After an initial clash with Guerrero's
forces, Iturbide switched allegiances and invited the rebel leader to
meet and discuss principles of a renewed independence struggle.

While stationed in the town of Iguala, Iturbide proclaimed three
principles, or "guarantees," for Mexican independence from
Spain: Mexico would be an independent monarchy governed by a
transplanted King Ferdinand or some other conservative European prince,
criollos and peninsulares would henceforth enjoy equal rights
and privileges, and the Roman Catholic Church would retain its
privileges and religious monopoly. After convincing his troops to accept
the principles, which were promulgated on February 24, 1821, as the Plan
of Iguala, Iturbide persuaded Guerrero to join his forces in support of
the new conservative manifestation of the independence movement. A new
army, the Army of the Three Guarantees, was then placed under Iturbide's
command to enforce the Plan of Iguala. The plan was so broadly based
that it pleased both patriots and loyalists. The goal of independence
and the protection of Roman Catholicism brought together all factions.

Iturbide's army was joined by rebel forces from all over Mexico. When
the rebels' victory became certain, the viceroy resigned. On September
27, 1821, representatives of the Spanish crown and Iturbide signed the
Treaty of Córdoba, which recognized Mexican independence under the
terms of the Plan of Iguala. Iturbide, a former royalist who had become
the paladin for Mexican independence, included a special clause in the
treaty that left open the possibility for a criollo monarch to be
appointed by a Mexican congress if no suitable member of the European
royalty would accept the Mexican crown.